I Think I May Have Loved You
by Misha
Summary: On Donna's wedding day, she and Josh talk about what might have been.


I Think I May Have Loved You   
By Michelle 

Disclaimer- These characters are the property of NBC, Aaron Sorkin, or whoever. I'm not writing this for profit in any way, shape, or form, but because I have a lot of spare time on my hands. 

_Author's Notes- This is kind of a Josh/Donna piece, but at the same time, it isn't. I'm a die-hard Josh/Donna fan, but this idea just kept playing itself over in my head and wouldn't go away. As I said, this is sort of a Josh/Donna piece, but it's also a Cliff/Donna piece with a bit of Josh/Amy. It's short, sweet, and a little sad. Well, that's all, enjoy!_

Spoilers- Vague ones for everything up to "The Two Bartletts". 

Rating- PG   
--- 

"How do I look?" Donna asked, twirling around to show off her wedding gown. 

Josh considered making his usual witty comment, but then thought better of it. Today wasn't about that. 

"You look great." He told her after a moment. "Calley's a lucky guy." 

Donna sighed. "Josh, it's my wedding day, can't you refer to him by his first name just for the day?" 

The two of them were alone, as Donna's bridesmaids had chosen to give the two of them a few minutes of privacy before the wedding. 

Josh smiled. "Alright. _Cliff_'s a lucky guy." 

Donna softened. "Thank you, and Amy's a lucky woman." 

Josh's smile deepened as he thought of his fiance. 

His fiance. There was a time when he thought he'd never get to that stage. 

There was also a time when he wondered if Donna by the one that he got there with. 

Josh shook his head, trying to push that thought aside. 

"What's wrong?" Donna asked, seeing the expression on his face. 

Josh smiled slightly. 

She could read him so well, he had never been able to hide anything from her. 

Yet, he thought sadly, they weren't as close as they had once been. 

Things had changed. The diary incident, Amy, Donna's continued relationship with Cliff, they had all impacted Josh and Donna's relationship. 

But, then, he realized it was natural. After all, now they each had a significant other in their lives and they no longer shared every detail with one another, they were still friends, but things were different. 

They always are after a while. 

A part of Josh longs for the old days, but he knows that that's impossible. Things change, life goes on, that's the way the world works. 

"Josh, what's wrong?" Donna repeats, snapping him out of his thoughts. 

"Nothing." He told her. 

She sent him a look which told him that she clearly didn't believe him. "Joshua." 

"I was just thinking about us." He admitted. "About how we've changed." 

"Josh, of course we've changed, things have happened, time as gone by." Donna told him. "Change is natural." 

"Do you ever think that things between us might have been different?" Josh asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Amy, but..." 

"I understand." Donna said softly, touching his face gently with her hand. "And to answer your question, sometimes." 

Josh looked at her for a moment and thought about all that they had been through together. 

The first campaign. 

Mandy. 

The shooting. 

The hearings. 

The diary thing. 

Reelection. 

They had been through a lot together, and Josh didn't think he could have gotten through it all without her. She was his best friend. 

"I love you." Josh told her quietly. "I love you as a friend, as someone I can count on." 

"I know." She whispered. "I love you too." 

Josh smiled, then continued. "But, there was a time, when I think I might have loved you in a different way." 

"I know." She said again. "I felt the same, but it wasn't meant to be. It wasn't right. That's why it didn't happen, this is right." 

"I know." Josh said softly and he did. 

Despite his own problems with Calley, Cliff, he knew that the other man made Donna happy. Besides, he wasn't a bad guy, though it pained Josh to admit that. This wasn't just another one of Donna's local gomers, this was the real thing. 

"Just don't let your Republican husband change your values, you hear?" Josh teased, knowing that it was best to get things back on a lighter footing. 

"Never." Donna promised with a smile. "After all, having a Republican wife hasn't changed Sam, has it?" 

Josh smiled and shook his head. 

He remembered his astonishment when Sam and Ainsley's had eloped six months earlier. No one had even known they were seeing each other, which is how they had wanted it. They knew that their relationship would attract attention, so they wanted to slip under the radar and enjoy their wedding before they had to start dealing with it all. 

"No, I guess your right." He said with a smile. "You'll be back at the office in two weeks, right?" 

Donna rolled her eyes. "Yes, Josh." 

She had decided to keep working for Josh for the last year and a half of Bartlett's presidency, than she would go back to school. She and Cliff had apparently talked about it and had decided that they could keep politics and their personal life as separate as possible. 

However, Leo had told him to hire a junior assistant to lighten Donna's case load so that she could have more normal hours. 

Just then, there was a rap on the door, and Donna's Matron of Honour stuck her pretty blonde head in the room. "It's time." 

Josh turned to Donna. "Are you ready?" 

"I am." She said softly. 

Since Donna's father had died when she was a teenager, Josh had agreed to give her way. It was a little strange, but also fitting. 

"Donna, wherever our paths lead, I'm just glad you're in my life." He told her quietly, as he offered her his arm and they left the little room at the back of the church and prepared to walk down the aisle. 

She gave him a dazzling grin. "So am I, Josh." 

Then it was time. The music began to play and he walked her up the aisle, and then, when they reached the end, he kissed her cheek, placed her hand in that of the man she loved, and then took his seat beside the woman who had won his own heart. 

Yet, as he watched her become another man's wife, he couldn't help but think that it might have been him. 

Then, he looked over at the woman next to him and smiled. 

Maybe that was true, but what might have been didn't matter. What mattered was that he and Donna were both happy. That was what counted, not the fact that he thinks he might have loved her once. 

The End 


End file.
